The Trials, Stories, and Photographs of a New York City Writer, Photojournalist & New York Yellow Taxi Hack...bringing you the New York City stories he reports which have crowned him The King of New York Hacks.

KING OF NEW YORK HACKS

Follow and ye shall be Knighted !!!KNIGHTS OF THE ROUND TABLE !

KNIGHTS OF THE ROUND TABLE

Share

Twitter Follow

Monday, August 31, 2009

The following you tube video is silent ...which gave me an idea for the month of September. I will be blogging hopefully a picture a day,or almost everyday in respect for all those who perished or are involved with the war to this very day. My posts will be a pic of the city, a person, a memorial for 9/11 and I may make a short comment or not...

I call this Silent September.

During Silent September all my posts will have no lengthy writing until I do my walks around Ground Zero as I did last year, and if you didn't read it you can click on the following words.. 9/11 Tribute . I will do these walks again on 9/09 and 9/10 and post about it with all my thoughts and feelings on 9/11. Til then. Here we go.

A New York filmmaker captured the Manhattan Bridge, which I photographed myself driving over in my prior post, however I did NOT know the swaying occurred until I viewed this in a time-lapse video that's causing concern among commuters...and Taxi drivers !! (psst..and if you cross a bridge....check it out bro's and sis's)...ok NOW HERE WE GO !

However...HEY !!!WAKE UP !! Here's the good news from a Columbia University engineering professor who says the motion in the video is not 'necessarily a cause for alarm.

Hmmmmmmmmmm.....reminds me of the Columbia Economic Professors and Goldman Sachs experts telling us that Bear Stearns could never go out of business and to buy Yahoo at $101.00 in 2000, or what was that other item...hmm...oh yeah , the levees will not break !! ....I think the King will inconspicuously suggest " Hey , I just heard through my GPS that there is less traffic if we take the Brooklyn Bridge !!! " LMAO !!...and I would sell some of my stocks right now too ...I'm not kidding..I will...ok kidding....not. ;-)

So in closing, I hope you check out my thoughts from last year and compare them to the one's I have this year as the seasons change again and unfortunately as a world we are still... broken...and as the seasons change so do we, and again and hopefully , for all of us the weather will get much better inside and outside as a whole.

Please also read the follow up Guest posts following my 9/11 one with their own thoughts and pictures....I "truly" don't think you can find many firefighters around like Firemen Francis J. (Jerry) Kennedy in this city and his memories anymore, or the intelligent and thoughtful way my friend Frank...and his doll Beany revealed their thoughts ....Beany ?? I knew you'd ask...Well you'll have to read to find out about that !! . Frank is a perfect example of how we used humor to overcome some of our tragedies. Some of you will remember the Beanster !!Click here to read the guest posts: Guest Bloggers Response to 9-11 Tribute

Thank you Jerry and Frank for contributing and should you like to do the same this this year I'd be honored again, with your thoughts...Until then , and as we reflect on the progress or lack of, I will be peeping..ahem, I mean KEEPING watch on this city and bringing it to you as I faithfully remain your friend and loyal taxi driver through these streets.......wait for it ..wait for it...The... ......King of New York Hacks !!!! LOL Peace out peepers...

Sunday, August 23, 2009

Well hello again everyone, and welcome back to a trip through the city. Thanks for hailing my humble taxi.

I would sincerely like to thank all of you who responded, and commented on my prior post and were generous enough to stop by Wonderful World Of Wieners and donated , read , or just became more aware of organ donors and the importance of being a donor.

Hallie wrote some really kind words about me and raffled off a couple of The King of New York Hacks shirts. She really did a great job in raising not only money and having people win all sorts of cool prizes from Red Sox tickets all the way down to my low level King Tee shirt, but most importantly she raised awareness in how important organ donation is. Great job Hallie and family, we admire you and applaud you for what you accomplished, so very impressive indeed.

Hallie is a very special person with a tremendous heart, and her family as well, since her Dad was the receiver of a heart himself !! She has one blog that is a sure to read each time you go there, and she has a great playlist of songs to listen to while visiting. Be sure to visit her again, The King does often.

So thank you all again for the kind comments, and the thoughtful words everyone left behind, especially about my mother...It was very well received.

So into the concrete jungle we go over thee Manhattan bridge on a hot day which we've been getting plenty of recently. Or rain. However no clouds in sight today as I click a nice clear shot with one of my fellow yellow brothers ahead of me !

I slowed down a bit underneath the tower to get this shot, the bridges look great on beautiful days...until you see the rust, and decay ..and well lets get off this damn bridge !!!

One of the thing I learned early on when I first started driving a taxi was about Ghost Bikes. I made a post about one that I called snow bike because it was summer and looked like snow on it only to be corrected by my fellow taxi brother and blogger NYCTaxiPhoto ( a taxi blog you must visit with fantastic photos of the city ) that Ghost Bikes are small and somber memorials for bicyclists who are killed or hit on the street. A bicycle is painted all white and locked to a street sign near the crash site, accompanied by a small plaque. This is right over the Manhattan bridge on the Manhattan side and is a very chaotic traffic intersection.

Usually they don't have a picture, however this one did. His name is Sam Hindy and he was only 27 years young. The son of the founder of Brooklyn Brewery was killed after he fell while bicycling on the upper level of the Manhattan Bridge and plunged in front of a car on the lower roadway. Way too young poor guy.

There is an actual website that is covering all the Bicycle deaths around the world to create a reminder that we all travel these dangerous streets together and that we should be mindful of it.http://www.ghostbikes.org/new-york-city/sam-hindy . This sight covers many countries.

This is the plaque and poor Sam's tragedy was on a Friday night.

This is the entrance to the bridge from the Manhattan side.

...and at late late night, a serene beautiful sight without the chaos of the day. Peace Sam, and all other bicyclists, be careful out there....

And to all the Kamikaze bike messengers who hold on to my side mirrors to pick up speed sometimes !!! Knock it off ya assholes ya might kill yourself !!!!

OK, now the King had a case of double vision which lasted a couple of days so I couldn't drive and had to figure out why the hell I was seeing two of everything and I hadn't even had a drop of Guinness yet !!! (I Wore an eyepatch which made me see fine so I could drive to the hospital)

This was indeed a dilemma. So the day I was seeing double they did a cat scan on me which was fine, however my blood pressure was a little high, so they said that may have caused it, but to get an MRI. Unfortunately when you work on Wall St...stress is part of the game, and maybe I was having too much of it so I took a few days away from it, and to get an MRI ...and to relax.

When lo and behold I park my car near the hospital , and when I'm walking I see a Wild Turkey !!! This is Staten Island I'm in now , WILD FRIGGIN' TURKEYS ?!?!?!?!?!? OK , I think , first double vision and NOW Turkeys !!! I'm HALLUCINATING !!! WTF !!! WHY ME ?!?!?!?

So, I thought I'd just go along with my hallucination and enjoy it..you know, be one with all of them and they would welcome me into this rafter of turkeys. Yes that is the correct collective noun for a group of turkeys, just makin' sure you didn't fall asleep on me yet. Rafter..yup , who knew ?? We all know now !!

CLICK ON THE SCREEN TO WATCH THE VIDEO

Well if you're going to hallucinate, I'm thinking Thanksgiving will be a cool ride...I 'll pretend I'm a pilgrim, no "stuffing" me into an MRI machine !! I'll be the one doing the stuffing !!! This guy was making me hungry !!

Now I've seen pigeons being fed bread crumbs and oblivious to crowds of people in this crazy city... but NEVER a "rafter" of Turkeys !!! Hanging out at a Hot Dog stand !!! No park benches and bread crumbs for these gobblers, they want some New York Hot Dogs !!!!! The King had a few words with my new found friends, but they were interested in better things.

CLICK ON THE SCREEN TO WATCH THE VIDEO

Now this guy...He is the one I want to see in November !! Big New York Bird !!!

So I casually walked back to my car, thinking of the MRI technician saying he did see a brain in my head, but was not authorized to tell me if there was anything wrong it...So I figured I might as well keep talking to Turkeys since for now It's kind of a free pass to do so without them sending me to a psych ward !!! So at another Hot Dog stand on the other side of Staten Island Hospital, I found some more friends, although they thought the King was a Turkey anyway !

CLICK ON THE SCREEN TO WATCH THE VIDEO

So later that evening as I was relaxing watching the Live News at 10pm, they were talking of rising rents and blah blah blah ...and then..like Santa Claus coming in the middle of the night.. I saw the most famous of New York City birds. THE Bird. The flip. The finger. The ole middle salute. The FU. Beautiful when you see it Live...not later like now on the you tube I put it on...it was a glorious bird, and I laughed my ass off because I kept rewinding it and seeing their funny faces which you can do with the new cable we have...kinda like freeze framing dvd movies to see the stupid faces the actors make sometimes. My whole family was laughing and kept rewinding, so I got my camera clicked a few pics and recorded it as well. The dude who flipped the bird has the ultimate flip off face.

OK..here it comes , upper right hand corner...

almost making into the full frame of the scene.....

Now he's on TV giving all of New York the ole FUCK YOU !

He tries for better positioning...

And BINGO !! THE MONEY SHOT OF THE BIRD BEING GIVING TO US ALL !!She looks like she making a fish face here !! LOL

Shocked face newscaster and the smugness face of Birdman....he has a B on his shirt too !! LOL

Captain B , The Birdman of New York City !!

She did keep her cool , but not when we freeze frame !!

Rising rents...crooked politicians....who the hell knew what she was talking about when all we saw was this !!! Too funny !! I checked online at the TV stations sight and it was edited out.

The King got it though !!

So in closing, summer is almost over and the fall is almost here which is a part of the year I really love to drive around in. I may post a couple of small items , but September 11 is just around the corner and if you haven't read my tribute from last year, please do. 9/11 the King and Today , My tour of Ground Zero and Battery Park. Leave me a comment on what you think, or something you might want to see a picture of and I'll do my best to get it. I will be doing the same walk with some new thoughts , and hopefully pictures of much progress.

I'll keep it light until then, just think of those crazy ass Staten Island Turkeys to make ya laugh, enjoy the rest of the summer, be careful on your bicycles and as my friend and fellow blogger FreddyBeachCabby always says Please Don't Drink And Drive....Visit Freddy, he has had personal loss due to someone drinking and driving and he has a heart of gold, so those words are for real and we need to take them to heart.

Call a friend, get on a bus, get in a cab, just don't drink and drive brothers and sisters, its not worth it, we're having too much fun together without putting ourselves and others at risk.

I'm not preaching to ya, I 'm just a Double Vision Turkey Talking Taxi Hack that some refer to as....... The King Of New York Hacks. Peace all.

Facebook- ADD ME ! You will be updated daily...to mostly...or partly to rainy at the least !! ;P

The King Of New York Hacks

Watching the city and bringing it to you.....I am The King of New York.

Tumblr

http://kingofnewyorkhacks.tumblr.com/

Pinterest

COPYRIGHT DISCLAIMER !!!

All graphics, photographs, and text appearing on the KING OF NEW YORK HACKS home page and subsequent official Web pages are protected by copyright. Redistribution or commercial use is prohibited without express written permission.